Mezzanotte
by californiatart
Summary: Vampire AU. When the bell tower rings at midnight, creatures who hungered for human's blood comes alive and they would attend an academy together. However, once the school year started, there is a special group of beings who not only consume human's blood and body, but even their own kind.
1. When the Bell Rings at Midnight

**Author's Note**: Hello there, friends! I started this story from a long, long time ago, and then eventually abandoned it… just like everything else I wrote actually. But lately, a surge of inspirations just hits me, hard, and I'm excited to put my thoughts on paper and share it with you guys! The idea of vampires has always fascinated me, and then, I thought to myself one day: what if there is a school for these creatures and how would they cooperate with one another? On top of that, what if there are hierarchy, classes and orders, would these mythological beings still behave like people in every day's life or would they be completely different from us humans, both psychologically and socially?

Please read and enjoy, and if you have helpful/constructive criticism, don't hesitate to tell me~!

**Disclaimer**: All characters here are not mine. They're from the beloved anime Hetalia.

**Pairings**: Spain (Antonio Carriedo) /S. Italy (Lovino Vargas), possible other pairings if you look really, really close at the screen.

**Warnings**: Language, mature content, violence.

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_**Chapter I**__: _

_When the Bell Rings at Midnight_

A crimson moon emerged over the dark, omnibus mountains of clouds. The scarlet red color from the moon bleeds and blackened over the bouncy, effervescent green trees and white flowers below. A wolf stood over a cliff from the distant land, watching the magnificent, superlative parade before him. The animal wails, the song he sang sounds so agonizing and abandoned: a wept for a companion for the night. A clock tower's bells trinket deafeningly in the inaudible forest floor, beckoning its welcome to midnight, the time when beasts and monsters applaud and celebrate just because they gets to loiter and prowl in the dark shadows. The darkness means liberty.

A tree felt down from what sounds like a forceful push. Brash, lurid footsteps could be heard once the tree landed on the ground in an ungraceful manner. The one who is accountable for that appears to be a shadow belonged to a young boy. He was dragging along another smaller figure with him.

"Damn it, Feliciano! We are going to be late because of you!" The taller boy shrieked in annoyance and frustration.

"Ve…! I'm so sorry, Lovino!" The other boy apologized; jacketed his left ear with his unrestricted hand to help eased the hostile noises his elder brother makes.

After a while of adventuring through the never-ending trail of the forest floor, the older boy hunch down, never once did he creased his mad footsteps. His auburn eyes transforms into a deep maroon color, his ears becomes so sharp and pointed, and then white long fangs grew out from his teeth. A pair of dark raven wings pierces through his skin and blossoms over his lithe form. Lovino's body becomes light as a feather and wings flapping several times just like a bird looking for a place to fly. Looking straight above him, he dashes forward with Feliciano's hand still linked to his.

"This will be the last fucking time I'm giving you a lift!" The brother complained, his wings begin flustering up and down, heading north to their destination.

"Haha! Thanks, Lovino!" Feliciano laughs, he becomes excited when he sees little dots of fireflies and white cheerful souls of the dead illuminating beneath his feet. The little brother begins to sing a lullaby, gently rocking his head from side to side in a silly, puerile way. After some time of wandering on the enormous sky, a wave of fog slowly comes closer and closer to Feliciano and Lovino.

The thick vapor consumed the two brothers, Lovino's form stumble a bit as he had some problems navigating his pathway. Suddenly, there was a huge gush of wind current hitting the two dead on. Feliciano closes his eyes at the impact against his face. He rubs his eyes vigorously, trying to adjust his sight. When the wind stops, he peak opened his eyes, and gasp in amazement as he spotted a humongous castle up ahead. The full red moon creeps in from behind the castle, it traces and exaggerated the outline of the building lurking in the background. The grand mast was surrounded by a large body of blood red water. There were some students neatly dressed in red and black uniforms, waiting by the gate, chatting and introducing themselves to one another.

"This is our new school, Lovino! I'm so excited! I bet they have a ton of pretty girls there!" The young brother remarked in an excited voice.

"Feliciano, don't forget that we have to do our best in school, considering how much Grandfather spend on us." Lovino reminded in a stern voice.

"Alright, alright." Feliciano brushes his older brother off with an absentminded remark.

Lovino signed.

_His trouble only begins._

Lovino scans the dark surrounding underneath and then he spots a good, secluded place to land. The boy flaps and folds his wings a few times, his feet then touches the ground with a soft '_thud_'. After that, Feliciano swiftly let go of Lovino's hand, dashes toward a group of girls and begins playfully flirting and talking with them.

The older brother stands still and takes his time to look at his surroundings, awake and alert. He is weak, but he's not stupid like his younger brother, Feliciano. He could smell the heat and bloodlust from the other students. Lovino bites his lips; he hopes that his powerless presence and Feliciano's stupidity makes the other students stay away. The castle's gate opens with a loud, mournful creak. Coming out of the abyss is a women dressed in a grim, slimy cloak. Her long hair covers her face as she creeps out of the entrance slowly in a ghostly manner. In her right hand is a lantern, the dim fire inside almost burns out.

"Welcome to Mezzanotte Accademia, my lovely students! Please refer to me as Sister Héderváry…" She swallowed in a huge chunk of air.

"Students, please separate yourself in an orderly line by gender… Males on the left, females on the right…." The woman then begin breathing heavily, saliva begins to escapes her dry lips. The students did what the woman request of them, the chatting among themselves stopped. Feliciano move next to his older brother and winked a good-bye to the gorgeous girls.

"Cough…! … Cough…! …. Cough! Please follow me…" The woman inquired. The group of students went inside, passes the huge iron gate, and begins following her lead. The castle's entrance closes in on the group; the loud, phantom noise from earlier repeats like a bell. Once the group was inside, the stench of rotten human flesh hung heavily on the air; Feliciano covers his nose in a childish manner. Annoyed, Lovino resist the urge to hit his young brother on the head. With a tap of her feet, crimson red light brings the space inside the castle with life. The walls were made out of glass, but none of the students are on the mirror's reflection. In the middle of the room stood a huge cross stone marble.

"This way students…" The woman said, she was already standing on the long, crimson stairway behind the cross. The students then walk up to the stairs where Sister Héderváry stood. A portrait of a huge intimidating man sitting on a red chair watches the group of students intensely, observing and studying them like they are walking food for it. When the students reached her, there is already another person standing beside her.

"Male students please follow Brother Bonnefoy to the left stairway, female students; please follow me to the right." The group then separate themselves on to their designate destination.

"Hi there, please follow big Brother Bonnefoy here, I won't bite." The blonde man narrates, smiling flirtatiously. He was handsomely young for an instructor here.

Lovino hold onto Feliciano's hand to make sure his dumb brother don't wander off to some place and get lost. As they walk up to the stairs, the steps begin to twists and spiraled out of place. There were humans, skinned and hanged as decorations. Paintings of famous vampire's graduates from the school were neatly aligned against the walls. Every once in a while, a bell would ring, and then a flock of bats would fly over the group of male students, carrying dead humans and spitting acid. When the group reaches a room all the way at the top of the castle, the instructor opens the door for them to come inside.

"Come in! Come in!" Said the instructor, he playfully winks at the crowd of students.

Once inside, Lovino's breathe was almost taken away. The room is a circular dome, akin to a colossal fighting arena for the ancient Roman. The pathway down is made of smooth expensive black stones. Even the chairs, rich leather in scarlet reds and table tops in onyx glass. There were wine glasses already prepared and filled with fresh blood for the newcomers. After the students and their instructor are seated, all the way at the bottom floor beneath them, is a pool of blood, so heavy and crimson red like pure liquid lava. A shape ignited from the river bed of blood, it appears to be a man covered in thousands and thousands of bats. With a wave of his hand, the cage made out of bats disburses, and all that lingered in the darkness are his piercing sapphire red eyes.

"Welcome, my dear children, to Mezzanotte, meaning 'midnight' in Italian, the time when we vampires are at our most powerful state if we utilized it correctly, it is a fitting name for an academy, isn't it?" The large man looks over the crowd of students ahead of him; he smiled politely. "I am known as Father Beilschmidt, the founder of this school. I wanted each and every individual inside this room to be educated, to become great vampires, to become leaders, to be feared by your name alone. I hope that you all will learn and make good use of that knowledge..."

Lovino yawned, he was bored beyond comprehension. Why the beginning of every school year must have an orientation? They're pointless and unnecessary. Next to him is Feliciano, dropping his head to the side, already charmed by some "sleep fairy". The older brother begins to look over the group of students on the opposite side of the podium ahead. All he could see is a sea of dull red colors blending into one another. A green color caught his eyes amidst the crowd of equally bored, half-close eyes vampires like him.

_Jade._

The color was so oddly out of place against the reds and the blacks inside the secluded space. These eyes belong to a student, probably around the same age as Lovino's. He was dressed in the same uniform as the rest of the students here. He had his jacket unbuttoned, the red tie unruly felt lose, and the black under shirt was half-undone. The student's hair was rouse and carefree, like an untamed stallion. Even his skin is strange: a sun kiss tan, standing out so compares to the deadly pale, bloodless flesh of the other students. Lastly, his eyes, the odd feature that drawn the older brother's interest from the beginning. They were the most vibrant green color Lovino had ever seen. The stranger's eyes was so clear, the brunette swears he could see the blood-red pupil right in the center.

_And. _

He was looking right into his bloodshot eyes. Once the orientation ended, the room was left empty, as if nobody is even there in the first place. The day's light had emaciated through the little flaws within the walls and no one's is left in the castle's fort. It is an abandoned palace once more.

.

The morning is already over as the night slowly crawled its way into life, the evening before the night is still haunting and lurking around. There are no sound, no wind, no life on this part of the world, everything in this realm was stained in greys and in blues and in blacks. All of the trees are frozen dead, there is no sun, and there is no water, except for a scarce amount of wild animals running around. There are only a few spiders and their white webs, black panthers sprawling after their kill, and wolfs and their lost screams. Up ahead, is a barrier of bats, when their red eyes spotted something moving in the bushes, their thin wings would spurt open and they all flew away soundlessly. From behind these black bats' net, in the middle of nowhere on this unmoving, lifeless, deserted land, is a tower stood in the center of a mist curtain.

Lovino unseals his dead frozen eyes. Widespread and bloodshot. His pupils' dilated, as he is trying to booked in the darkness before him. He lifts away the black coverlet enveloped around his body, stilled drowsed in sleep as a white fang of his is revealed once he had booked in a deep inhale of air. The boy looks around, unobtrusively observing his and his brother's new room. The two had just recently moved to live with their grandfather in order to attend Mezzanotte Accademia. Lovino still could not believe his own eyesight… Grandfather sure spoiled him and Feliciano. The whole room is pitched in darkness; the furniture would murk and disguised their selves in the dim background afore him. There are pretty paintings and decoration of black roses throughout the room, on the walls, on the floor, even on the bed. There are no windows to welcomed sunrise, only the smell of roses mixed with blood's deteriorating.

After some exploration with an appreciated gaze, Lovino shut his eyes close and slowly collected in his thoughts and judgments. _Last week was the orientation_. It was so tedious and unexciting; he could have done something productive given all of that time he spent in school… Except… for that boy. _That jade eyed boy_… once the orientation is finish; his eyes would whisk away in the crow of students dressed in black and red, like a _ghost_… Alright, enough for trivial things, today is the official first day of school. Lovino sweep his eyes open, signed, and takes in another lungful of dry air.

The boy turn his face over, next to him is his young brother, Feliciano, snoring loudly, in ignorance of his life as usual. "Feliciano. Get up; it is almost time for school."

"Just a bit more, Lovino…!" The younger brother groaned, turned to the opposite side and dragged the black cover under his chin snugly for more of that enchanting warmth.

Lovino rolled his eyes and attempts to flips the cover off of his younger brother. Feliciano, on the other hand, his laziness was apparently his strongest point as his grip on the sheet was tight and mighty as iron. Some time of struggling between the two here and there passed, Lovino nibbles his lips and growled in frustration. "I will bite your neck if you are not awake this instant," He warns his young brother. Lovino smirked evilly when he sees a twitch from the younger boy.

Feliciano's eyes flew awake upon hearing his elder brother's warning. His head shot up and flicks over to Lovino's. "Eww, gross! Lovino, you are supposed to do that with the one you really like."

"You stupid brother; that only happens in fairytales... Anyway, now that you are up, let's get ready. " Lovino reminded the younger boy; he then disentangled the cover away both of their bodies.

Once they both deftly cleansed and are dressed in their uniform, of which, is most of Lovino's work considering how his young brother was still very much dozed in sleep. The older brother walks over to the exit, and held onto the metal door for Feliciano to get out. Despite Lovino is the last one to go out, he somehow passes his young brother with eased, gaining the upper advantage as he was swift and quick on his feet.

"Hurry up." The elder brother directed, eyeing his back at the boy too far away from his reach.

The little brother heard his command, and, groused incomprehensive and gibberish things. Then, out from Feliciano's back, are black bones individually spurted outward like needles, forming his wings as he straggled limply after Lovino's shadow. His little body would sway back and forth sluggishly; his misty eyes are still in unfathomable slumber. Feliciano really like his sleep… Or maybe because Lovino is too energetic compare to him.

As the two brothers walks down the long tunnel of stairs in the middle inside the tower, lovely maids in pretty dresses would greet the beloved grandsons of their master. About two thirds of the way, the room to Lovino's right is the dining hall. The servants in there would happily welcome the two brothers and begins bringing out glassful of human blood in porcelain tea cups. A butler would drag out a live chunk of beef on a gigantic white plate, the red heart and pink livers are still intact and beat gently. The man raises his huge fork and knife, only to perfectly cut out an attractive looking slide for Lovino, then, next, a smaller piece of the meat for the younger brother.

"… I wonder what a human's flesh taste like." The younger brother contemplated out loud, licking his lips and then takes a bite out of his red meat. _They must have taste like chickens since their blood tasted like cooked eggs._

Lovino sat on the opposite side of the table. He look at his young brother, and then taken some time to form a respond back. "Feliciano, the humans that are killed by vampires is because they try to either uncover our existence or are messing with the balance in this world. Remember this: everything is black and white, for every cause; there is an effect, like the silver moon and the blue water. If they don't mess with us, we don't mess with them... Have you been listening to Grandpa Roma's early morning stories?"

Feliciano looked puzzled, blinking a few times. "… Yes?"

"Just don't be certain of everything that was told to you, Feliciano," Lovino advised his young brother, as he, himself, is always in doubts and questions everything around him. Of course he is a cower, a weakling, but having knowledge of his world gave him somewhat of advantage. Now, Feliciano… he is in a whole different story. His brother is a prodigy at about almost anything once his bubble burst, though only in extremely rare cases, whether he realized it or not, or in actually, the kid never really take notice of his surrounding, let alone himself… In the end, Lovino just carefully watched over his young brother, making sure he did nothing unwise and reckless. Like right now, he pretends he had a stomach ache from eating the red meat so he does not have to go to school. The corner of Lovino's lips lifts up, just a tiny, little crack, faintly, at his brother's childishness, and firmly averred that he must go to school with him, nevertheless.

After Lovino and Feliciano are done with their meal, it is already an hour before midnight. The two quickly sprints down the flight of stairs in the center of the tower, and out from the main entrance they go. On their backs are book bags filled with blank, white papers, and writing utensils. Their trip through the ruined forest was surprisingly fun, well, for Feliciano that is, since the night around this area is generously stunning ever since the first day they got here. Feliciano would chase the black panthers around, laughing lightheartedly as his face was being licked and salivated all over. He plucks a bunch of pretty white Nightshades and put them into his bag, saving them for the gorgeous girls he had meet last week. As for Lovino, he just puts his hands into his pants' pocket flaps on either side of his hips, watching his young brother making merit out of these little things. After passing through the same forest that led them to Mezzanotte Accademia, Lovino was glad that he didn't hear the bell tower rings this time around. Upon reaching the crimson river, Feliciano hesitated to spread his wings out, his childlike little face is a pasty color.

"Vampires couldn't cross running water, Lovino." The young brother showed his concern, recalling one of his grandfather's tales inside of his head.

Lovino's eyes hardened, and then rolled all the way back to his head. He signed, and held only Feliciano's left hand, and sprayed out his own dark blue wings. In a flash, their bodies levitated off of the ground and into the black sky, which is isolated in nothings but the color grey. The moon on the sky is a simple shiny crescent today, Lovino noted. After a while of soaring on the air, up head are students, dressed in the same black and red uniforms with their wings spread wide, heading for the same destination as the two brothers. Lovino takes his time to fly slower than normal so he could avoid engaging in a casual conversation with these students. A dark figure turned over, Lovino kept his cool regardless, holding onto Feliciano's hands tighter…_ it was the jade eyed boy_. He made eye contact with Lovino and smile. Lovino, in a hasty response, looked away, but, Feliciano laughs and wave at the boy. There is a huge gust of wind blasted onto Lovino's face, he closes his eyes at the impact, and loses sight with the jade eyed boy. With the current of wind gone, Mezzanotte Accademia is once again, appears, like a phantom, with its many magnificent buildings jointed together, more glorious than ever. Feliciano, beneath him, gasped in amazement… not because of the school, of course, it is because of the gorgeous girls standing around the gate waving at him.

Lovino signed, once more as he looked for a place to land.

.

Right. Left. Right. Left.

Standing under a dead tree in the darkness; Lovino carefully, but in subtleness, glances at each individual student around him like looking through a telescope. To his right, Feliciano is handling out the Nightshades in his bag for his gorgeous girl friends. The smell the white flowers mixed with the students' lust for blood hung ever so heavily in the misty background, _just like last week_. Under the bright silver moon tonight, Lovino noticed that some of these students, the ones that were not at the orientation, has different… _colored eyes_… like the jade eyed boy. The kind of vampires that is closest to a human. The ones that _needed_ human's blood for survival. These kinds of vampires are dangerous, especially during the full moon… whenever there weren't any humans available within sight; they will take down _anything_, even their own kind, to fill their blood thirst…

Lovino bites his lips hard, drawing blood, but he quickly licked away the red fluid. _'Shit... I hope grandfather's stories about the vampires with different colored eyes are just another tasteless joke of his.'_

The castle's entryway unseals itself open with a brash, desolate groan like the sound of children's wailing. This time around, a transparent fog slowly sneaks out from behind the entrance; it is the aroma of disintegrated flesh. Once again, coming out of the black void is Sister Héderváry, cladded in the same gray, greasy robe. She parted her long hair covers away from her face and smiled. As she sidles out of the entry in a leisurely manner, she begins purring, the faint light inside the lantern in her right hand gave her some warmth from the cold outside.

"Thank you for returning to Mezzanotte Accademia, my lovely students! Please, do refer me as Sister Héderváry…" Again, just like last week, she would open her parched mouth and swallowed in a big portion of cool air. This time, however, from within her gray, greasy robe are scrolls and scrolls of black papers with red ribbons. The Sister quietly hands each scroll to the mob of students before her with a weak smile.

"Here is yours, dear," She told Lovino, handing him a scroll and saunters off, silently. Lovino follow after her walking body with his inflamed eyes to check if Feliciano would receive one because he was, obviously, way too distracted by the gorgeous girls around the school's front entrance. After Sister Héderváry passes by many, many dark shadows belonged to other students, the young brother finally got one.

"I am done all done here; you all can go to your classes now." The Sister instructs the students, without being detected, she, now, stands beside the inner gate with her wavering lantern in her right hand. In the distant sky, Lovino could hear the bell tower rings. It is the time of midnight.

The students all gathered by the castle's entry and strolls inside, picking up random talks to each other along the way in. Once the crowds of students are all confined inside the entrance; the brash, eerie sound from the gigantic stone gates on the left and right gobbled up the light from their backs. The smell of foul human meat dangled on the air. Sister Héderváry taps one of her feet against the marble floor several times, and then, red scarlet light flourished the entire building. She walks over to the huge cross cobblestone marble in the middle of the room and waves her left hand tiredly, "Go on, to your classes, students…! I am one of the main instructors here, so, we may end up seeing each other again."

"Yes, Sister Héderváry." All of the students disseminated from one place to another like little black bats and started searching for their new classrooms.

"Lovino! What classes do you have? I hope we got the same ones with each other throughout the night." Feliciano poked over to his brother's shoulder, looking at his list.

"Let me see," The elder brother asserted, taking Feliciano's scroll and check side to side with his list. "Said here, we have Class A, D, and Z together."

"Yes! I was scare for a second there that I will be separated from you this year." Feliciano raised his hands and rejoiced with a bright face of his. Feliciano and Lovino, then, both tread up to the long flight of stairs on the left side of the portrait of the giant of a man sitting on a chair, his red eyes shift toward the brothers just slightly. As the two goes up the long staircase, the little stones steps started to coils and soared out of nowhere like a snake. They did not walk anymore as the have reached their first destination, 'Class A'.

When Feliciano and Lovino steps inside, the first thing that the elder brother noticed, is that is classroom is deliberated like a class for normal humans. However, in differentiate to them, there were no lights, no living humans' chatting amid themselves, no colorful decors, except for dead leathered chairs, grimy tables, and black stone floors. The brother swiftly got a hold of two vacant chairs in the front because they were already really late to pick and choose their favorites. After the two were comfortably seated, the door skulks open, and out of the darkness, is Sister Héderváry and her lantern. She sets the lantern on top of her desk and turn, making as much eye contact with the mass as possible.

Her breathing was quite heavy as she moves to stand in the middle of the room. "… Welcome to Human History, dearest students. We, as a class, shall be analyzing and discussing the beginning of human's history. Where they were originated from, their philosophy, their society, their traditions, and so forth. I am not an easy teacher, so don't expect me to pass you just because you came to class… Of course, there will be exceptions, so, do not be afraid to talk to me, alright, dearies?" Sister Héderváry grinned, there were some drool escaping her red lips, but she wipes it off using the corner of her sleeve. "I shall be taking roles now." She said, holding up a full list of her students, and begins calling out, "… Sadık Adnan?"

"Here." The student responded at the back raised his hand at her. She smiled and wave back, and then, moves on, "Natalia Arlovskaya?... Ludwig and Gilbert Beilschmidt?" One by one, the students answered when their names are being addressed at.

'… _Huh, Beilschmidt? Does that means they're related to the principle?'_ Lovino wondered in his seat, glancing at the brothers through the thin clack of his eyes.

"Ivan Braginski?..." The instructor's voice managed to tangle them into the boy's thought. "… Antonio Carriedo?"

"Here." Lovino looked back, and surely there, in the back right corner is the jade eyed boy. He smiled when his eyes interchanged with Lovino's red ones. Lovino quickly turned his head away.

The roll call was slow since Sister Héderváry is a sluggish talker, upon many, many names later, "… Feliciano Vargas?"

"Here~!" The young brother reacted, waving his hands.

"Lovino Vargas?" The instructor looked around, lethargically.

Lovino, in opposition of his brother's liveliness, he just retorts with a low. "I'm here."

Next class is Literature, and it is taught by Brother Bonnefoy. The instructor there, is a bit too friendly, just like in the orientation. He would touch and refers to his students affectionately, like addressing a lover. Feliciano somehow got along fine; he actually liked the nicknames and intimate caress from the Brother. Lovino only watch without a word coming out of his mouth.

"Our ancestor, the first vampire, our blood father, is a human man called Ambrogio; he wasn't born a vampire, but was cursed to be one. Originally, he was an Italian voyager who fell in love with Delphi, a maiden of Greece. The story, unambiguously, trace all the way back to the sun god Apollo, whom was thrown in a flood fury and wrath, cast a spell on Ambrogio, so that his own flesh and skin would scorch and blister if he ever touch the light of the day. Ambrogio's misfortunes did not just ended there; his curse followed him as he finished up his story wagering away his own soul to the god of the underworld, Hades, for a chance to be human again. The next disastrous strike is from Apollo's blood sister, the goddess of the moon, Artemis, who cursed Ambrogio's skin to prickle to dusk if he ever came in contact with silver. Hope is dwindling and thin, there is no happiness left in Ambrogio's life as there is only but hardships and sorrow. Lady luck then, came out of nowhere, when the goddess Artemis, took sympathy on the unfortunate young Ambrogio; she gave him the ability of immoral life out of her kind heart. Ambrogio, of course, still have his curses imprinted on him - his skin scorched in madness by silver or light, but, in return, he would live for eternity. Artemis also blessed Ambrogio the agility and gift to become a hunter just like hers. Granted, he was the most powerful human man alive, but, grief and sadness only dwells in his heart. Ambrogio cried for many, many days, months, years when he could not goes through the sunlight to reach his lover, Delphi, so, in the end; he could not do naught but write love letters in blood of swans for her… I wanted each of my students to write freely, like love, like Ambrogio's story, tell me _your_ story, since I am the only who read your paper." Believed the instructor, he finished his introduction with a winked of an eye.

Throughout the night, every class is the same; the instructors are just taking attendants and trying to make students get along with each other. During lunch, in the dining manor east of the main entrance, the servers would bring out varies live animal's parts and placed them on the long stretched walls and walls of tables. White plates, silver forks, and black spoons are already on tabletops and chairs line up neatly for the incomer of students.

Feliciano brought in a very pretty girl name Bella to their table in the corner. Her hair is a dull blond and she has phlegmier expressions akin to a kitten. They eat quietly, in solitude, and Lovino would like to keep it that way. Feliciano, as usual, make a big mess of reds on his face and stuffed as much as possible of that delightful beating deer's heart into his mouth. Lovino scowl him in matured irritants, but would wipe the excess dripping red blood away from Feliciano's ever moving lips and mouth. The younger's brother new friend, Bella, interludes in and merely asks, "Feliciano, and elder brother's Lovino, why did you both decided to go to this school?"

"Because our parents wanted us to." Feliciano countered honestly, smiling at the pretty girl in front of him. Lovino could hear the bell's tower ringing from the outside, as he looked out to the walls of glass that is the dining room itself; he saw bats, hundreds and thousands of them, in the reflection of the four corner walls and the transparent ceiling, easily carrying dead humans on their tiny mouths and sharp little black feet.

"… Are you not even a bit curious?… Why there are so many dead humans around here." Lovino raised his eyebrows at the odd friend of his younger brother's; she was looking at the bubble of bats around the glass room.

"Yes… sometimes, but it is not my place to question things the way they are. And, I like living my life like this, like now, where it is peaceful and fun; there is no need for curiosities and questions." Feliciano brushed off her remark, smiling so with his innocent little mind in his stilled world.

"But, I am, tell me more… Bella." The young brother intercepted, interested in the girl's question.

Bella leans her head down, and murmurs noiselessly, creating a space for just the three of them. "Vampires are able to survive by drinking human blood… but, did you know? We can gain more power by eating their flesh, _even_, for common red eyes like us."

'… _What… ? I thought vampires only kill humans when it is necessary..._' Lovino added to himself, now totally absorbed in her story… The strange stories of grandfather's came flashing on and off in his mind.

"… If you got enough money and influence, you can cover up anything." Bella continue, she cover her mouth with a graceful hand of hers, her eyes pointed north, and whisper, even more quiet than before. "… See that boy with the jade eyes? His parents are human hunters, their family is loaded… and, I heard that they have close connections with this school." The boy, behind their backs, was sitting and talking closely with the young instructor from last week and another boy with scarlet eyes. Upon making eye contact for the third time that day, he grinned ever so charmingly at Lovino's red orbs on him.

Then, something else Bella had said that have seized Lovino's prying even further, "And did you, this school… we will have to attend a tournament every week for training. It is the same usual; the losers gets punished and the winners showered in praise and gifts. All students will have to be presence, heedlessly of the circumstance. It is being held in the auditorium on the top floor."

When classes are over, Lovino was deep in thoughts of what Bella had told him, _everything_, and oblivious to his elder brother's distress, Feliciano hummed happily as he get to enjoy another nap for the morning to come. His wings skirt up and down in pleasure at the vivid staging on top of him and Lovino. _The silver moon on top is so pretty._

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_TBC._


	2. The Prince and His Friend

_**Author's Note**_: Hello friends, I am so sorry for not updating this story in such a long time; writer's block is a terrible thing especially if you are a lazy bum. There is a new character coming in, I hope you love him as much as I do since I'm such a sucker for the villains, I just love writing about them since you never knew what goes to their mind when they decided to do something out of the ordinary. On another note, I hope guys enjoy this chapter as much as I am writing it because putting these ugly, unattractive words together, only to create such a dark story is so much fun and terribly exciting. I cannot wait to write the next chapter because it will focus more on Antonio and Lovino. :)

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_**Chapter II**_:

_The Prince and His Friend_

The second night of school starts. As usual, all of the tiny, crawly, strange creatures in the dark become seething with hunger and agitatedly looking around for a mortal to feast upon. It was easy to hunt for one since they are so gaudy and frail and rash, especially the little soldiers trying to protect their town. In the bushes and trees, bright eyes opened bloodshot wide and without a sound, a human man was easily caught. With a little rustled of the leaves, tiny black dots scuttled and sidle all over his pleasant body. There are little to no winds, the air was breathless, the plants are withering. There is nothing but dead silent. The bell tower finally rings. The tweeting sounds coming from the tower were unnerving and unsettling in this numb, motionless forest.

Midnight has begun.

On the dusky skies are droves and droves of black bats with appendences and limps similar to human beings. Their hands are lengthy, legs are crooked, and teeth were silver snow white. Their enflamed crimson eyes bring the dead sky thriving with their red pupils. Behind this group of creatures, is a figure carrying along another person. There is a red feather dropped out of his black scaled wings as he flew forth to the castle ahead. As Lovino's body glide and cascade against the wind, he could feel a presence on him. It was slight and unnoticeable, but there is something moving in the water. He glances down for a second; there is nothing on or under the water bed. It was probably his imagination, so, Lovino decided to go on his way. Once the sky is deserted, beneath the water, a pair of eyes cracked eclectically widespread and apart, exposing the electric greens under, and looks back and forth.

As the herds of students landed on the front yard of the school's gate, it is time for them to go to their classes. It is the second day of school, everything was exceptionally normal, except for the little itch that Bella girl told Lovino… About eating humans, about the event at the end of the week, the jade eyed boy... Lovino turn his gaze to the left, beside him, Feliciano is too busy bit greetings to all of the girls he had come to know. The school's front gate unlocked and there is the Sister greeting students and her old lantern. As the students walked in, tiny dots of reds unfastened open abruptly, blinking on and off; the obscure veil only turn out to be black bats and their shadows. The red beaming light from above the ceiling was terribly bright and unwelcoming as Lovino and Feliciano walked to their first class together. Lovino stretch his arms and shoulders and then briefly closes his eyes for a second. Oddly enough, he swears he could see the giant portrait of the Father blinked once. Human History was uninteresting and dreary; though Lovino did manage to stay awake the entire lecture. Sister Héderváry, however, lurked around Feliciano and had to licked him a several times because he kept falling asleep. The jade eyed boy wasn't in the class today. Literature was dreadful; Brother Bonnefoy kept himself busy by molesting his students with lecherous remarks and too intimate touches. He only talks of love and romance.

'_This is Literature right?' _Lovino thought to himself as the instructor goes on and on of his love life.

"… An innocent human turned to be a bloodsucking vampire for love. Quite a fairytale isn't it?" There is a knock on the door. The Brother stopped and a long, pale finger of his touched his cheek, "Oh, and before we go on from here, my darling students, we have two new classmates who will be joining our class today..."

Brother Bonnefoy turned to the door and held, "Come in, come in, loves, don't be too shy, it will only excites me!"

Surely enough, there is a boy from the other side of the door walking in on the class once the Brother's voice ended, he held little to no presence. There is a bump onto his back. His head is down and his golden blonde hair hid his face, but Lovino accidentally made a small slit of an eye contact with him. Finally, his face is fully shown as he stood beside the young instructor. He was creepily attractive. Almost like a young prince. Frail alabaster skin, unnervingly thick eyebrows, blood red lips. His eyes are riveting. They are some of the most pair of lethal greens Lovino had ever seen in his entire life. Similar to an itch, a mole, pimples… close to the jade eyed boy's eyes. His gapped fangs were so sharp, jagged, and the brightest of whites. Like a witch, almost. And he reeks of the smell of moldering flesh of humans.

"Please, introduce yourself to the class, precious." Played Brother Bonnefoy, smoothly and composed. He touched his shoulder with a suave, gentle hand.

He whispers, "… It's Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

The instructor scratched his head and tilted his striking face to the side, "Where is the other student? Guess he is not here…"

The new student turned his head all the way over and alleges, "Oh, this is Alfred. Say hello." There is another person snubbing out of his back like a butterfly unsheathing itself from a frozen cocoon. Lovino almost flinch as little red skins peeled off of the new student's body.

The_ person_ simply smiles and says, "Hello, I'm Alfred." Then, return back to being a little bump behind the new kid.

"Good. Have a seat for me, love." The instructor goes on, gesturing a seat at the back, then, the lecture resumes.

Arthur walked to his assigned empty seat, which is right beside Lovino, and sat himself down quietly. The rest of the time, Arthur kept on and on and on staring at Lovino. His green orbs never once move or twitch or blink; they just oddly stayed in one place on him. The staring continue throughout the night. Right after Literature, in the long, elaborated hallways, by the windows in his other classes, even in the dining room too. But something unexpected happens during lunch, the jade eyed boy appears out of nowhere and only then, did Arthur vanish alongside with him. Feliciano is sitting and talking ever so happily with Bella without a care or baggage in mind. Lovino signed dejectedly and decided to go out for a break outside of the dining room. Along his way to the outside world, a voice in a dark corner to the left caught Lovino's attention.

The boy could only see some speckle of purples, Lovino winched his red eyes to focus on the blurred dots. The voice appears to be a male. "… Hey, you there, friend, you want something nice?" The violet orbs were terminally clouded and chillingly warm, akin to a werewolf.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Lovino inquired, suspiciously, he did not `like the fact that the darkness is so blinding.

"I know he's after you. He is a lot stronger than you, and you know it." The voice stated the fact.

"What does it have to do with you?" The boy pressed on.

"I will give you something that will help you. But, nothing is for free, of course." The voice persuades.

Lovino grew agitated, almost offended even, and simply replies, "No, thank you."

"Alright, you are always welcomed to come here and talk to me again..." The voice just fades out, just like the darkness, like the thin air.

Lovino bites his lips. _The voice is right_. But, he is no weakling, he can think for himself. Like a puzzle, it will be solved in no time, and he certainly doesn't need a handicap or help. Lovino continue on his way and sauntered toward the open gallery connected to the dining manor. He let out an exhausted breath and let the creepy airs filled his lungs. The stars are eerily bright, the silver moon is sneaking on the dark sky, and the grey clouds are creeping in an awfully slow pace. As Lovino comes closer and closer to the edge of the open gallery, he noticed another presence, barely visible by the stars. Somebody is watching the moon. Lovino grew cautious, he could smell rotting humans, the crooked limps, the yellow hair… There was a small hum, of pleasure, of amusement, of laughter. His long fingers dance against the red stone handrail. Lovino could hear the sound of teeth crunching against each other. And heavy breathing.

_It's that creepy, little kid. _

"You. You smell wonderful." He twisted his head all the way to his back and murmurs, "I want to eat you."

Lovino backed away immediately, his heart frozen in fear and hesitation. But, his two foot would not listen to his cry for help. His voice somehow trapped in his dry throat. He could feel the hair on his head stands up like cat's fur rubbing against electricity.

"… Lovino? What are you doing here? Come back and eat with me, I'm lonely." In the red light on Lovino's back, is his younger brother, Feliciano, called out, modest and innocence, but it was able to break the brother out of his immobile curse. With just that, the older brother came to his senses and walked back with Feliciano, into the crimson scarlet light, away from Arthur. Just ever so, on his back, Lovino could feel eyes on his every movement. He cocked his head back, only to have the kid gone from the open gallery.

Once school ended for the night, the sun on the world outside almost peaked through the blackness, driving away the existence and power of these bloodlust vampires. It is time for the students to return to their homes to hide away from the terrible sunlight. Lovino held onto Feliciano's hand tight as they flew back to their grandfather's tower. The wind blowing against his face was horrifically raspy and arid and barren. There are no beats inside his heart. Horrible memories are always awaken during the day, that's why Lovino dreaded the sunlight. He misses the darkness already.

"Lovino, why is your hand so cold?" Asked the younger brother. His hair was falling helplessly into his wide red eyes.

The elder brother turn to face his brother, "Feliciano, vampires don't have enough blood in their body, so their skins are always cold… I thought Grandfather Roma told you about this before?"

"But, yours are colder than usual." Feliciano remarked, inattentively as usual, licking his dry lips.

Lovino ignored his young brother's remark, and instead, stares at the incoming sunlight flocking the horizon of mountain terrains before him. After a while of diving in the air, he tilted his red eyes ever so slightly and looks back at the academy. That weird kid, Arthur and the person attached on his spine was standing against a cliff looking at Lovino's departing form, then; they dived deep into the water and disappear from his sight.

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TBC.


End file.
